Hello, I have had the pleasure of creating this new card game called Solar Empire, its a fun 2 player game, and its a dueling card game like MTG, but it has a game setup that’s more like chess. Its a tactical strategy game, there are no dice or counters, each player starts with a poker sized deck of cards, 50 cards minimum. Players can buy extra decks if they like to use doubles, each starter deck has one of each card type, and these cards are balanced against the opposing player’s deck. The first two decks are United Planets and Andromeda Empire, each army has dozens of ships, unique special effects and planets for their solar system.

United Planets is basically our solar system, it represents the human race, as we have populated the nearest planets with our people and technology. The ship cards for United Planets are built for attack strength, and tactics are best used with offensive strikes in mind. The Andromeda Empire are aliens from the closest Galaxy to our own, they’re warlike and xenophobic, there’s no negotiating with these guys. Andromeda Empire forces are built for defensive strength and toughness, they’re best in defensive positions, but they have plenty of firepower as well. The game has been tested for balance and game length, and this card game will last no more than an hour, usually half an hour, depending on the players.

Players will need two decks for a game, one United Planets deck and one Andromeda Empire deck, each deck comes with all the necessary cards to wage war against another deck and player. There will be common, uncommon, rare, and ultra rare cards, and the forces will be proportional to this basic formula. The rules are easy to learn and the age range for this game is 8 years old and up, as a player only needs some math skills to play properly. The way the game is played though is more secretive, as all cards are played face down, so only the player knows what cards are in play at any one time. When two cards occupy the same space, both cards are flipped face up and remain so for the remainder of the game. Players can stack ships into “armada” groups that are stronger than a single ship, some effect cards can benefit an armada specifically, so this form of grouping is key to victory.

The game itself is in the beta stages now, as I have played for many hours with my personal friends to fine tune the rules, its quite a visually appealing game and the artwork will be tremendous. This is my first release of a game design, and I hope to offer many more ideas for fun games in the coming years. I have created this blog to get some feedback from gamers, and to introduce the general concept of Solar Empire to the public. I have worked non stop on this for several months now and it will be released soon on Kickstarter.com, so be sure to check it out, I really think this game will be as addictive for card game players as it is for board game players. The design of the game setup is such that you will make your own gameboard as new cards are played, and the card placement is critical to winning or losing this game. Two players can play, four players in two man teams can play, any multiple of two can play this game, its not designed for an odd number of players as its a deck dueling game.

New Galaxies will be introduced within the first year of production of Solar Empire, I have already begun designing the new races and they will add a great deal to the replay value. I plan on doing all the product development and printing here in the USA, as I want to support local businesses which need our collective support to survive these hard economic times. The printing will be top quality work, the rules will be provided and I will be starting the official website, http://www.solarempire.com, where anyone can download the rules, buy starter packs or see new information on our latest games, all games are created under First Times Square Games Inc.

If you would like more information, or to become a regular on our mailing list just leave your email with us here, and we will contact you with release dates for Solar Empire, and when new expansions are released we will feature them here first, and anyone who signs up for the mailing list will get first dibs at the new cards being released. I appreciate all the support I have received from the gaming community, I will be posting artwork from the game and creative ideas here regularly. I hope you enjoy reading about my new design, Solar Empire, and I really hope you like it enough to support our efforts to bring it to local retailers and online stores across the country, thanks.